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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, on “The Joy of Love”, was officially released to the public at noon on Friday. Presenting the highly anticipated document in the Press Office of the Holy See were Cardinals Lorenzo Baldisseri – Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops – and Christoph Schönborn – Archbishop of Vienna and a leading Father of both the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2014 and the Ordinary Assembly that followed in 2015.

Cardinal Schönborn spoke exclusively with Vatican Radio ahead of the press conference, saying that the Holy Father’s desire in writing the exhortation was to give expression to the Church’s confidence in the family as intended by God in his design for humanity.

Click below to hear Card. Schönborn's extended conversation with Chris Altieri

“I think the key message is: ‘Don’t speak first about problems, speak first about the achievement of the family,’ [and] I would like to [shout it] out. The Church has been seen as a ‘warner’ – everywhere warnings and dangers and crises and problems. I think Pope Francis wants us to say, ‘Please, just look first at the enormous gift that is marriage and family,’” he said.

The Cardinal-Archbishop of also discussed the concerns expressed by observers and not a few Synod Fathers over matters of process, direction, and content during the Assemblies themselves.

“The diversity of critiques that has been expressed during the Synod is quite large, and I am sure that not everybody will be satisfied with this document. It was never the case – I can’t remember any post-Synodal Exhortation that received applause from everybody. The fact is, Pope Francis has based his Exhortation largely on the results of the two Synods, and the texts he used for [the basis of] his own writing were voted on by an over 2/3 majority of the Synod Fathers, so there is a large consensus behind it,” said Cardinal Schönborn.

On one point, in particular, Cardinal Schönborn offered significant clarification, explaining that, when Pope Francis discusses the possibility of admitting people in irregular marital situations “to the sacraments,” the Holy Father is speaking first and foremost of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“I think it is very clear,” said Card. Schönborn, “there are circumstances in which people in irregular situations may really need sacramental absolution, even if their general situation cannot be clarified.”

Below, please find a full transcript of Cardinal Schonborn’s English-language remarks to Vatican Radio  

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CRA: Amoris laetitia is an “exhortation”: to what is Pope Francis exhorting the Church?

Card. Schönborn: To the joy of love. Yes, it’s really that: rejoice in the joy of familial and marital love – and he speaks about marital love, not in a romantic way, not in an abstract way, it is very realistic – it is close to life, close to daily life, with all the worries and sorrows and joys of daily life. You can feel that he is a shepherd, a pastor, who has been always very close to the people, to the families, to their daily sorrows and joys. So, I think the key message is: “Don’t speak first about problems, speak first about the achievement of the family,” [and] I would like to [shout it] out. The Church has been seen as a “warner” – everywhere warnings and dangers and crises and problems. I think Pope Francis wants us to say, “Please, just look first at the enormous gift that is marriage and family.”

CRA:  The Holy Father does seem to have the idea that the family is an asset?

Card. Schönborn: Absolutely. I would say it is the asset.

CRA: And yet, one not without its difficulties. The Holy Father is not without encouragement for people facing difficulties, and even for people who have to deal with the dissolution, the disintegration of family life…

Card. Schönborn: Yes, but there is an important pedagogical point [regarding] the whole document: it is not just for people who have visible problems in their marriage and family, but everybody – even, so to say, the “best” family, even the exemplary family; they all need God’s mercy, they all need conversion, they all need the help of grace – and the distinction is not so much between those who are successful in their marriages and those who are less successful in their marriage and family, but [the question is], “How do we accept God’s mercy, God’s help? The Church’s fellowship? The Church’s aid? How do we help each other on this way?” The key word is “inclusion”: we are all included under sin, and we are all included under God’s mercy. So, include people in difficulty, and help them.

CRA: Observers and some Synod Fathers expressed concern during the two Assemblies regarding process, direction and content: to the extent that those concerns were legitimate, can those who voiced them be satisfied with the document?

Card. Schönborn: The diversity of critiques that has been expressed during the Synod is quite large, and I am sure that not everybody will be satisfied with this document. It was never the case – I can’t remember any post-Synodal Exhortation that received applause from everybody. The fact is, Pope Francis has based his Exhortation largely on the results of the two Synods, and the texts he used for [the basis of] his own writing were voted on by an over 2/3 majority of the Synod Fathers, so there is a large consensus behind it. He is not innovating: he is continuing with what the Synod had already prepared and offered him.

CRA: You have said that the continuity runs also between this document and another, specifically, St. John Paul II’s Familiaris consortio… 

Card. Schönborn: I am profoundly convinced that, 35 years after Familiaris consortio, Pope Francis has given us a beautiful example of what [Bl.] John Henry Newman calls, “the organic development of teaching.” [St.] John Paul II has already innovated in some points: not a break with tradition, but his “Theology of the Body” was something very new; his words on graduality in Familiaris consortio were rather unusual; his words on “discernment” in Familiaris consortio #84 were quite surprising – his strong invitation to discern different situations. Pope Francis is very much in continuity with this, and the Synod was – the two Synods were [as well]. Discernment was a key word in Pope Francis’ Exhortation. It is very “Jesuitical” – discernment of spirits – and that leads him to an attitude that was already present in Pope Benedict’s teaching, in Pope [St.] John Paul II’s teaching, that the Church offers help to those who are in so-called “irregular situations”. He adds a little note, where he says, “In certain cases, also, the aid, the help of the sacraments.” That’s all he said.

CRA:  That brings us nicely to the point, because, when we are talking about discernment, we are inevitably also must discuss conscience – but we must let Mother Church form our consciences – and Pope Francis certainly knows this, though it does bear mention. The sacraments: which ones, and in what order?

Card. Schönborn: I think it is fairly clear: there are circumstances in which people in irregular situations may really need sacramental absolution, even if their general situation cannot be clarified. Pope Francis has himself given an example: when a woman [in an irregular marital situation] comes to confess her abortion – the sin, the grave sin of abortion – not to relieve her, even if her situation is irregular – the discernment of the shepherd can be, and I would say, “must be”: you have to help this person to be freed from her burden, even if you cannot tell her that her marital situation has been regularized by this absolution – but you cannot [let her leave] the confessional with the burden of her grave sin she finally had the courage to come to confess. That was the example he had given, and I think it is a very good example for what this little note could mean in certain cases: i.e. “[…]even the help of sacraments.” 

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(Vatican Radio) A European Union official says the EU is considering to sanction Panama and other nations if they don't cooperate
fully to fight money laundering and tax evasion, after a leak of data showed the small country remains a key destination for people, including
the rich and famous, who want to hide money. 

Listen to Stefan Bos' report

Pierre Moscovici, who heads the financial affairs for the 28-nation European Union says he is outraged after media began publishing details
in 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show how the company has helped thousands of individuals and companies from around the world set up shell companies and offshore accounts in low-tax havens.

They include even companies linked to presidents and prime ministers. Moscovici has condemned Panama and other nations allowing such secretive low tax account.

"This week's revelations leave me outraged and furious. We do not yet know how much of this activity was illegal, but much of it is certainly, first, true,
and secondly, certainly immoral, unethical and in one word, unacceptable," he said.

"The amounts of money, the jurisdictions and the names associated with this affair are frankly shocking, and let's call a spade a spade (be frank and forthright), non-cooperative jurisdictions are tax havens," the official added. "We have to list them through a common EU blacklist and to be ready to hit them with appropriate sanctions if they refuse to change," Moscovici warned.

LEADERS MENTIONED

Among those mentioned has been even the British Prime Minister David Cameron. He has now admitted that he and his wife did own shares
in an offshore trust run by his late father. Blairmore Holdings was set up in the Bahamas in the 1981 so the company could avoid paying British tax.

Cameron says he sold the shares in 2010, the year he became prime minister. "Samantha and I have a joint account. We owned 5000 units in Blairmore
Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000 ($42,000). I paid income tax on the dividends," he said.

While offshore trusts are not illegal under British law, the revelation are seen as embarrassing for the Prime minister as he had
called complex tax avoidance schemes as “morally wrong.”

Among other leaders linked to off-shore accounts have been Russian President Vladimir Putin. However Putin denied wrongdoing and said
the allegations were part of a U.S.-led disinformation campaign waged against Russia in order to weaken its government.

PUTIN CONTROVERSY

The documents revealed by Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ),
indicate that Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin acted as a front man for a network of Putin loyalists and, perhaps, the president himself.

The ICIJ said the documents show how complex offshore financial deals channeled as much as $2 billion to a network of people linked
to the Russian president.

However Western-backed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who earned millions in the chocolate business, is also mentioned in what
have become known as the Panama Papers.

Analysts say these revelations also added to anger among Dutch voters who on Wednesday rejected an EU-association agreement with Ukraine in a referendum.


 

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis sent a message offering his support for a conference at the United Nations in New York discussing modern slavery and human trafficking. The conference (on April 7th) was organized by the Santa Marta Group and in his message to the participants the Pope encouraged them to strengthen the bonds of cooperation and communication which are essential for ending the suffering of the victims of those who are trafficked.

Please find below the Pope’s message sent to Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See’s permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York:

“I extend greetings to you and to all those gathered to discuss the grave issue of modern slavery and human trafficking, which continues to be a scourge throughout the world today. I am grateful to you and the members of the "Santa Marta Group" for your efforts in organizing this conference, and to the Member States and various governmental, civic and religious organizations committed to combatting this crime against humanity. As you reflect on the multifaceted issues which contribute to modern slavery and human trafficking. I encourage you to strengthen the bonds of cooperation and communication which are essential to ending the suffering of the many men, women and children who today are enslaved and sold as if they were a mere commodity. In this way, solutions and preventative measures can be promoted which will allow this evil to be addressed at every level of society. In your discussions, I hope also that you will keep before you the dignity of every person, and recognize in all your endeavours a true service to the poorest and most marginalized of society, who too often are forgotten and have no voice. In assuring you and all present of the steadfast commitment of the Catholic Church to fight against this crime and to care for all its victims, I offer the promise of my prayers that Almighty God may bless and guide your efforts."

Franciscus PP.

With gratitude for your valued assistance, I am  Yours sincerely in Christ

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(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Council Cor Unum has released a press statement concerning the collection for Ukraine announced by Pope Francis:

"During the Regina Coeli of Sunday, 3 April, the Holy Father announced an extraordinary initiative in favor of those who are suffering the consequences of violence in Ukraine. To this end it, a collection is expected to be taken in churches in Europe on Sunday, 24 April. The proceeds from the collection will be added to a significant amount of money made available by the Holy Father which will benefit both residents in the affected areas and internally displaced persons. The Pontifical Council Cor Unum is responsible for evaluating and approving the technical management of the funds, according to local projects reviewed by a special committee. By the end of April, a mission to Ukraine by Msgr. Giampietro Dal Toso, the Secretary of Cor Unum, is foreseen." 

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(Vatican Radio)  European Church leaders have called for greater integration of the EU’s 10-12 million  Roma, saying “their inclusion is a necessary indication of our commitment for a shared European identity and the free movement of people, commerce and ideas.”

A joint statement issued 8 April by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the multidenominational Conference of European Churches (CEC) to mark International Roma Day describes the gypsy or traveler community as “among the most deprived and marginalized people of the continent.”

Daily discrimination, persecution of 600 year old community continue

Though the Roma have been present in Europe for more than 600 years, the statement says it is “a disgrace to all European countries” that they face “daily discrimination” and “even persecution.”  It also charges that Roma are “often denied access to basic schooling, housing and healthcare.”

“We need to acknowledge their situation, through the centuries, in the Holocaust and presently, and our responsibility for it” the statement reads.

The Church leaders invite the EU’s Christian communities to “welcome the marginalized  and uphold their human dignity as a gift from God”  and to “continue to support Roma wellbeing and actively work to end hate speech and social exclusion.” 

At the same time, they call the Roma people “with their unique traditions, faith and culture,” to “bring their values to European society as responsible citizens.” 

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Vatican City, Apr 8, 2016 / 04:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics who have divorced-and-remarried need the fullness of Church teaching. They also need a wise pastoral and community response to their difficulties that can help them grow in the Christian life, Pope Francis said on Friday in his new document on love in the family.

“The Church’s pastors, in proposing to the faithful the full ideal of the Gospel and the Church’s teaching, must also help them to treat the weak with compassion, avoiding aggravation or unduly harsh or hasty judgements,” the Pope said in Amoris Laetitia.

Pope Francis’ highly anticipated post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the gifts and challenges of family life was published April 8.

Titled Amoris Laetitia, or The Joy of Love, the document was presented to journalists in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese. Signed March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, the release of the document was delayed in order to allow time for its translation into other languages.

The apostolic exhortation is the conclusion of a two-year synod process discussing both the beauty and challenges of family life today. Hosted at the Vatican in 2014 and 2015, these synods gathered hundreds of bishops from around the world.

While much of the Western secular media focused its coverage on homosexuality and the question of communion for the divorced-and-civilly remarried, actual topics discussed in the meetings were much broader, with synod fathers touching on themes such as domestic violence, incest and abuse within families, and marriage preparation.

Pope Francis acknowledged the attention generated by the synods, saying, “The debates carried on in the media, in certain publications and even among the Church’s ministers, range from an immoderate desire for total change without suf¬ficient reflection or grounding, to an attitude that would solve everything by applying general rules or deriving undue conclusions from particular theological considerations.”

The wide-ranging document included Biblical reflections on family, as well as discussion of the family as a place of faith and labor, celebration and tears. The Pope spoke about sexuality within marriage and on the sometimes devastating effects of poverty and migration on families. He also touched on the importance of communication within the family, the challenges of raising children in a technology-saturated world, and the witness of virginity.

Pope Francis devoted a substantial section of the document to the topic of educating children, observing, “The family is thus the place where parents become their children’s first teachers in the faith.” He also offered suggestions for improving marriage preparation programs, inviting engaged couples to consider a simple wedding and to set aside technological distractions.

In a world where many have lost respect for marriage and are delaying the union or choosing cohabitation instead, the Church must speak up, Pope Francis said.

“As Christians, we can hardly stop advocating marriage simply to avoid countering contemporary sensibilities, or out of a desire to be fashionable or a sense of helplessness in the face of human and moral failings,” he reflected. “We would be depriving the world of values that we can and must offer.”

At the same time, he said, “there is no sense in simply decrying present-day evils, as if this could change things. Nor it is helpful to try to impose rules by sheer authority. What we need is a more responsible and generous effort to present the reasons and motivations for choosing marriage and the family, and in this way to help men and women better to respond to the grace that God offers them.”

Pope Francis praised the “indissolubility of marriage,” saying that it “should not be viewed as a ‘yoke’ imposed on humanity, but as a ‘gift’ granted to those who are joined in marriage.” He added that “Divorce is an evil and the increasing number of divorces is very troubling.”

In addition, he said that “divorced people who have not remarried, and often bear witness to marital fidelity, ought to be encouraged to find in the Eucharist the nourishment they need to sustain them in their present state of life.”

In the document’s introduction, Pope Francis wrote that “everyone should feel challenged by Chapter Eight,” which is titled “Accompanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness.”

That chapter, which describes the Church as “a field hospital,” discusses the pastoral care of the divorced-and-civilly-remarried, as well as those who cohabit and face other irregularities.

Pope Francis wrote that “it is a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community.” He emphasized that the divorced-and-remarried “can find themselves in a variety of situations” and that this variety requires discernment and accompaniment on the part of pastors.

The Pope voiced agreement with the Synod Fathers’ observations that divorced-and-remarried Catholics need to be “more fully integrated into Christian communities…while avoiding any occasion of scandal.” He restated that the divorced-and-remarried are not excommunicated, and quoted the Synod Fathers, who had said that “language or conduct that might lead them to feel discriminated against should be avoided.”

Care for these persons is not a weakening of Christian faith and belief in the indissolubility of marriage, but is rather “a particular expression of its charity,” he said, again quoting the Synod Fathers.

While he affirmed the ideal of sacramental marriage in ministering to those in broken situations, the Pope also rejected a one-size-fits-all approach to individual cases.

Considering the “immense variety of concrete situations” that the divorced-and-remarried have put themselves in, he said, “it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules … applicable to all cases.”

Instead, he said, what is possible is “a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases” which would recognize varying degrees of responsibility and therefore varying consequences or effects.   

This is also the case with admission to the sacraments of Confession and Communion, he said, due to mitigating factors that might reduce a person’s culpability.

“Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any ‘irregular’ situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace,” Pope Francis said. “More is involved here than mere ignorance of the rule. A subject may … be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin.”

Someone in such a situation of objective sin but without full culpability can grow in charity with the help of the Church, and “in certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments,” he noted. “I would also point out that the Eucharist 'is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak',” he added, quoting from his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium.

The Pope acknowledged the importance of fidelity to the Gospel, saying that “To show understanding in the face of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal, or proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being.”

He called it “reductive” in discernment merely “to consider whether or not an individual's actions correspond to a general law or rule.”

“A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives. This would bespeak the closed heart of one used to hiding behind the Church’s teachings.”

Pope Francis professed understanding for those who prefer “a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion.”

“But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, 'always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the street'.”

 

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Vatican City, Apr 8, 2016 / 04:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ latest writings on the family include a strong affirmation of the need to welcome children even in difficult circumstances.

He praises large families and adopted families, rejects abortion as “horrendous,” reflects on the errors of “gender ideology,” and advises pastoral care for people with same-sex attraction.

“Each child has a place in God’s heart from all eternity; once he or she is conceived, the Creator’s eternal dream comes true,” he said in his post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

“Let us pause to think of the great value of that embryo from the moment of conception. We need to see it with the eyes of God, who always looks beyond mere appearances,” he added.

The Pope’s exhortation, released April 8, reflected on the conclusions of the 2015 Synod of Bishops, which examined the role of the family in the contemporary world.

Pope Francis said the ability of man and woman to conceive life is “the path along which the history of salvation progresses.” Their fruitful relationship is “an image for understanding and describing the mystery of God himself,” the Trinity.

“It is important for that child to feel wanted,” the Pope said. “He or she is not an accessory or a solution to some personal need. A child is a human being of immense worth and may never be used for one’s own benefit.”

The Pope said it matters little whether a new life is convenient, has pleasing features, or fits into parents’ plans or aspirations. Citing the synod, he said “children are a gift.”

He acknowledged that parents do not always feel ready for a child.

“Expectant mothers need to ask God for the wisdom fully to know their children and to accept them as they are,” he said. While some parents feel their child is not coming at the best time, “they should ask the Lord to heal and strengthen them to accept their child fully and wholeheartedly.”

The Pope encouraged adoption and praised it as “a very generous way to become parents.” Adoption is “an act of love” that offers the gift of a family to someone. He called adoptive parents “channels of God’s love.”

“Large families are a joy for the Church. They are an expression of the fruitfulness of love,” Pope Francis said.

The Pope also made bracing statements against abortion.

“I feel it urgent to state that, if the family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is conceived and cared for, it is a horrendous contradiction when it becomes a place where life is rejected and destroyed,” he said. “So great is the value of a human life, and so inalienable the right to life of an innocent child growing in the mother’s womb, that no alleged right to one’s own body can justify a decision to terminate that life, which is an end in itself and which can never be considered the ‘property’ of another human being.”

“The family protects human life in all its stages, including its last,” he added. “If a child comes into this world in unwanted circumstances, the parents and other members of the family must do everything possible to accept that child as a gift from God and assume the responsibility of accepting him or her with openness and affection.”

The Pope characterized euthanasia and assisted suicide as “serious threats to families worldwide.” In response, the Church must assist families who take care of their elderly and infirm.

Amoris Laetitia also reaffirmed Catholic teaching against contraception and sterilization.

The synod lamented population decline and the anti-child mentality “promoted by the world politics of reproductive health.” These factors will harm the ability to support the elderly, impoverishment and a loss of hope. For some, economic problems will deter people from children, while for others consumerism will.

Pope Francis cited the synod’s recommendation for a return to the message of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” which upheld Catholic teaching on contraception. He also noted the need for responsible parenthood given couples’ circumstances.

The Synod Fathers had criticized a “gender ideology” that “denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman and envisages a society without sexual differences, thereby eliminating the anthropological basis of the family.” They said this ideology’s educational and legislative programs radically separate personal identity from the biological difference between male and female and treat human identity as “the choice of the individual.”

Francis voiced concern that these ideologies “manage to assert themselves as absolute and unquestionable, even dictating how children should be raised.”

The synod also discussed artificial human reproduction that separates reproduction from a sexual relationship between a man and a woman.

The Pope said these ideologies “attempt to sunder what are inseparable aspects of reality.”

“Let us not fall into the sin of trying to replace the Creator. We are creatures, and not omnipotent. Creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift,” he said.

Pope Francis also responded to the synod on the topic of homosexuality.

“The Church makes her own the atti¬tude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his bound¬less love to each person without exception,” he said. “We would like before all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration.”

He cited the Catechism’s rejection of unjust discrimination and also rejected all forms of aggression and violence.

Families whose members include people with same-sex attraction should have “respectful pasto-ral guidance” to help those with this orientation “receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives.”

Pope Francis reiterated the Synod’s rejection of the asserted equality between homosexual unions and marriage of a man and a woman. He cited the synod’s comment that there are “absolutely no grounds” for considering these unions to be similar to “God’s plan for marriage and family.”

The synod also rejected pressure on churches on the issue of same-sex unions and financial pressure placed on poor countries to establish same-sex “marriage.”

At another point in his exhortation, the Pope said every child has “a right to receive love from a mother and a father.” Both parents are needed for a child’s best development.

“The family is the setting in which a new life is not only born but also welcomed as a gift of God,” he said.

 

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The same mercy and patience that are essential for building a strong family must be shown to those whose families are in trouble or have broken up, Pope Francis said in his highly anticipated postsynodal apostolic exhortation.

The document, "'Amoris Laetitia' (The Joy of Love), on Love in the Family," released April 8, contains no new rules or norms. However, it encourages careful review of everything related to family ministry and, particularly, much greater attention to the language and attitude used when explaining church teaching and ministering to those who do not fully live that teaching.

"No family drops down from heaven perfectly formed; families need constantly to grow and mature in the ability to love," Pope Francis wrote. People grow in holiness, and the church must be there to give them a helping hand rather than turn them away because they have not attained some degree of perfection.

The exhortation was Pope Francis' reflection on the discussion, debate and suggestions raised during the 2014 and 2015 meetings of the Synod of Bishops on the family. Like synod members did, the pope insisted that God's plan for the family is that it be built on the lifelong union of one man and one woman open to having children.

Synod members, including priests, religious and laypeople serving as experts and observers, talked about everything from varied cultural forms of courtship to marriage preparation and from the impact of migration on families to care for elderly parents.

Pope Francis' document touches on all the issues raised at the synods and gives practical advice on raising children, urges a revision of sex-education programs and decries the many ways the "disposable culture" has infiltrated family life and sexuality to the point that many people feel free to use and then walk away from others.

"Everyone uses and throws away, takes and breaks, exploits and squeezes to the last drop. Then, goodbye," he wrote.

Much of the document is tied to the theme of God's mercy, including Pope Francis' discussion of welcoming the vulnerable.

"Dedication and concern shown to migrants and to persons with special needs alike is a sign of the Spirit," he wrote. Both are "a test of our commitment to show mercy in welcoming others and to help the vulnerable to be fully a part of our communities."

The synod issues that garnered the most headlines revolved around the question of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried, as well as Catholic attitudes toward homosexuality.

"In no way must the church desist from proposing the full ideal of marriage, God's plan in all its grandeur," Pope Francis said.

He repeated his and the synod's insistence that the church cannot consider same-sex unions to be a marriage, but also insisted, "every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity."

On the question of families experiencing difficulties, separation or even divorce and remarriage, Pope Francis said responses to the questionnaires sent around the world before the synod "showed that most people in difficult or critical situations do not seek pastoral assistance, since they do not find it sympathetic, realistic or concerned for individual cases."

The responses, he wrote, call on the church "to try to approach marriage crises with greater sensitivity to their burden of hurt and anxiety."

Particularly in ministry to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, Pope Francis said, pastors must help each couple look at their actions and circumstances, recognize their share of responsibility for the breakup of their marriage, acknowledge church teaching that marriage is indissoluble and prayerfully discern what God is calling them to.

Pope Francis said it would be a "grave danger" to give people the impression that "any priest can quickly grant 'exceptions' or that some people can obtain sacramental privileges in exchange for favors."

At the same time, he insisted, "the way of the church is not to condemn anyone forever; it is to pour out the balm of God's mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart."

Divorced and civilly remarried couples, especially those with children, must be welcomed in Catholic parishes and supported in efforts to raise their children in the faith.

Generally, without an annulment of their sacramental marriage, such a couple would not be able to receive Communion or absolution of their sins unless they promised to live as "brother and sister." But every situation is different, the pope said, which is why the church does not need new rules, but a new commitment on the part of pastors to provide spiritual guidance and assistance with discernment.

The diversity of situations -- for example, that of a spouse who was abandoned versus being the one who left -- makes it unwise to issue "a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases," the pope wrote. Quoting St. John Paul II, he said, "'since the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases,' the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same."

Pope Francis used the document's footnotes to specify that the consequences include whether or not the couple might eventually be able to receive Communion: "This is also the case with regard to sacramental discipline, since discernment can recognize that in a particular situation no grave fault exists," he wrote. Those who are in a state of serious sin are not to receive Communion.

Another footnote commented on the church's request that remarried couples who had not received an annulment and who want to receive the sacraments forego sexual relations. "In such situations, many people, knowing and accepting the possibility of living 'as brothers and sisters' which the church offers them, point out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking, 'it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of the children suffers,'" he wrote.

Pope Francis wrote that he understood those "who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion. But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the street."

Turning to those who believe allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion waters down church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, the pope said, "we put so many conditions on mercy that we empty it of its concrete meaning and real significance. That is the worst way of watering down the Gospel."

In many respects, Pope Francis wrote, church members themselves have presented and promoted such a dreary picture of married life that many people want nothing to do with it even though they dream of a love that will last a lifetime and be faithful.

"We have long thought that simply by stressing doctrinal, bioethical and moral issues, without encouraging openness to grace, we were providing sufficient support to families, strengthening the marriage bond and giving meaning to marital life," he wrote. "We find it difficult to present marriage more as a dynamic path to personal development and fulfillment than as a lifelong burden.

"We also find it hard to make room for the consciences of the faithful, who very often respond as best they can to the Gospel amid their limitations, and are capable of carrying out their own discernment in complex situations," the pope wrote. Yet, "we have been called to form consciences, not to replace them."

The role of an individual's conscience made frequent appearances in the document, not only regarding the situation of those who may determine their new union is best for their family, but also regarding decisions over how many children to have.

Pope Francis praised Blessed Paul VI's encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which insisted every sexual act in a marriage must be open to the possibility of pregnancy, and included a large section reiterating what has become known as St. John Paul II's "Theology of the Body."

The saintly pope definitively opposed an old idea that considered "the erotic dimension of love simply as a permissible evil or a burden to be tolerated for the good of the family," Pope Francis said. "Rather, it must be seen as gift from God that enriches the relationship of the spouses."

Pope Francis called for church leaders to ensure more married couples are involved as leaders in designing and carrying out pastoral programs for families. Their witness is key, he said.

"Marital love is not defended primarily by presenting indissolubility as a duty, or by repeating doctrine, but by helping it to grow ever stronger under the impulse of grace," he said. "A love that fails to grow is at risk. Growth can only occur if we respond to God's grace through constant acts of love, acts of kindness that become ever more frequent, intense, generous, tender and cheerful."

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